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submitted 1 day ago by muhyb@programming.dev to c/linux@lemmy.ml

We have a Macbook Air mid 2013 and no matter what distro I tried, making wi-fi work was pain due to Broadcom drivers and not having ethernet port. Basically had to install the drivers via phone tethering.

However, probably because of the drivers, there are certain problems like disconnecting out of blue or really slow connection or cannot reconnect unless reboot the PC.

So I want to ask, if you have this Macbook and have Linux installed, which distro you're using it with? How is it?

Recently I installed Bazzite on a home computer and printers, Xbox controller, iPhone connection, everything the owners need worked out of the box. I'm wondering, would it also work fine with this Macbook too?

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[-] eugenia@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 day ago

As someone with 3 Macbook Airs from the 2010s, running Linux, I can tell you that you're wasting your time trying to make these drivers work. They're unmaintained and they have introduced new bugs as new kernels come out (as the kernel changes over time, old drivers stop working 100%). For example, the mid-2011 Macbook Air locks up completely when downloading large files. The 2012 one doesn't wake up from sleep due to the wifi.

The solution is to completely disable these drivers via blacklisting them. And then buy a TINY usb wifi, like the tp-link one, for $6. It works perfectly and it takes no space (just one of your usb ports). That's the solution. Everything else is a waste of time, speaking from experience. The kernel bug reports I did went unanswered.

this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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